The semiconductor chips are typically provided on a foil held by a frame, which is also known in the field as a tape, for processing on a semiconductor mounting apparatus, a so called die bonder. The semiconductor chips adhere to the foil. The frame with the foil is accommodated by a displaceable wafer table. The wafer table is displaced in order to supply one semiconductor chip after the other at a location and the supplied semiconductor chip is taken up by a chip gripper and placed on a substrate in cycles. The removal of the supplied semiconductor chip from the foil is supported by a chip ejector (known in the field as a die ejector) arranged beneath the foil.
The detachment of a semiconductor chip typically occurs in two phases, namely a first phase in which the semiconductor chip is detached at least partly from the foil by the die ejector without assistance by the chip gripper, and a second phase in which the chip gripper grips the semiconductor chip and detaches the same completely from the foil. The first phase is known by experts as “prepeeling” phase. The die ejector comprises mechanically movable means such as needles or a displaceable carriage or several plates that can be lifted and lowered, and several parameters which determine how the mechanical means are moved need to be determined and set in a setup phase. The parameters need to be set in such a way that the prepeeling process occurs within the shortest possible period of time on the one hand and the semiconductor chip is not damaged on the other hand. If the prepeeling process is performed too rapidly, there is a likelihood that the semiconductor chip will break apart.